Some random facts about Norway.

Published January 15, 2016

Once upon a time I used to live in North Norway. I lived there for more than 2 years. While living there I, time by time, came across some interesting facts about this country. Maybe it is not accurate to call them facts, but lets say- observations.

If you have a choice, do not buy the bread in Oslo-Gardemon airport. It is not tasty. Actually most of the bread I had there had almost no taste. They are used to freezing the bread. And it is common to buy the bread in the shops and put it in the freezer once you get home. Of course they have a lot of great bakeries, but the frozen bread is a thing there.

If the currency of your country is not euros or dollars, I suggest you to take the cash with you, because it is possible that the ATM does not accept your card. I had several problems with this due to some technical
problems in the shops. It was not possible to pay buy card, the cash machine would’t accept my card as a result I had to stay in the airport for 6 hours without any possibility to buy food.

If you are used to having free-wifi wherever you go, be prepared that in Oslo-Gardemon airport you can get access to wifi for 2 hours if you are using Norwegian phone card.

If it is your first time in North Norway and you come from a flat country, you may be positively shocked by the beauty of the nature here. North Norway has many fjords and mountains. I spent my first months with surprised eyes and open mouth. I just couldn’t believe the perfection. And when you are taking the buss from the airport to your destination, there is a 90% chance that you are gonna have to drive through the mountain. For some it may not be a big deal, but if you had never seen any mountains, then… man, you are driving through a freakin’ mountain! How surreal is that?

Gender equality is really important here. There are no jobs only for female or only for man. So if you are a tiny girl like me, there is a possibility that nobody is going to help you with your heavy baggage. Not because they are impolite,- exactly the opposite- they believe that helping in this case would be impolite.

As you may have heard, in North Norway there are polar nights and polar days. As I came there while it was the polar night, the situation was that when I woke up, it was dark. Around 10 it was possible to see some light spots in the sky, but no sunlight. The sky got a little pink around 11 o’clock, but at 2 it was already dark again. And if you are not used to that, you get tired a lot. The first week I spent almost only sleeping. I had a lack of energy. But don’t worry- it gets better. You find the ways to deal with it- use extra vitamin D, go for a long walk, use the sun-lamp and so on.

I know this is not the only country where the shops are closed on Sundays, but for me it was something I was not prepared for. Where I come from, the shops are always open. Even in the nighttime it is possible to find a place to buy some food. So if you are used to shop every day, better buy more on Saturday so that you do not starve on Sunday. The same goes for official holidays. The shops are closed so be prepared for that.